“What’s for dinner mom?”
“Where’s dinner, honey?”
Sound familiar?
Dinner: The anticipated or dreaded question of the day. The thing we agonize over not long after breakfast.
What are you cooking for dinner tonight?
Hopefully, we can help each other out and make it a bit easier most nights of the week.
If you love your crock pot or need more ideas for your crock pot here are two blogs you need to check out!
Recipes from the Crock Pot Girl
Another time saver is cook a few meals once a week or many meals once a month and put them in the freezer. Make sure you label them well and all you have to do is grab one out of the freezer in the morning and then pop it in the oven.
Fabulously Frugal has some great freezer meal recipes.
Life as a mom also has great recipes and she even points you to posts to help you get started if you have never done freezer cooking before.
Other quick tips can happen as soon as you unload your groceries. When you buy chicken before you place it into the icebox go ahead and prepare a few dinner options. Place desired amount of chicken in a gallon Ziploc bag and add a marinade then pop them into the freezer. As they thaw the chicken pieces will soak up the flavors and all you have to do it grill or bake.
Here are a few marinade options:
- Italian dressing
- Ranch dressing and 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- ½ c Olive Oil, ½ c Lemon Juice and 3 T Italian Dressing
- Barbecue sauce
Now all you need is a salad, veggies and/or fruit.
Did you know I was once a single mom? Yes, I had a time in my life where living on budget was more of a necessity than a plan and time was short each day; between, work, shuffling kids around, homework checks and doing the cleaning and cooking solo. On Monday Nicole Bean, a single mom, featured me on her blog 180 Degrees: Turning your life into a new direction She asked to interview me about the time in my life when I was a single mom. Go over and check that out, you will also find a great recipe as well!
Sharing time! What are your tried and tested tips for making dinner delicious, easy, and stress free.
Tell me all your great ideas in the comments below and you could be entered to win a $25 Starbucks gift card.
One winner will be chosen from all comments posted for the entire week.
Please, be sure to link to your blog or provide an email address so we can get in touch with you!
I love to purpousely cook more than needed for the current dinner then I cna use the extra food to help get a jump on dinner another night
Hannah,
Please share your recipe for biscuits that don’t need to rise.
Thanks,
Karen
I love cooking, but during the week, we only have about an hour to prepare and eat dinner before we are running again. My husband and I decided that during the week, we will do simple, basic meals of rice or pasta and veggies with fresh fruit for dessert (it is easier to digest on the go). On the weekends and holidays is when I grill, broil or bake. That gives me time to enjoy cooking, and my family time to enjoy the flavors, and not have to rush through the rest of the night with an upset stomach.
One of the ways that I keep dinner easy and fresh is doing one pot/pan meals. For example I made salmon, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and biscuits for supper tonight. I started by putting the biscuits in the oven (I have a recipe for some awesome biscuits that you can make in a big batch and then put whatever you don’t use in the fridge for up to one week. This works really well since it is only my husband and I and most biscuit recipes make a lot and aren’t so good if you try to downsize the recipe. Plus, these ones don’t need to rise.) Then, I cut up the veggies and steamed them in a pan for about 5-8 minutes then added the salmon steaks to the bottom of the pan and cooked it all for about 5 more minutes. The whole meal only took me about thirty minutes and it was healthy and yummy. I also like to use the crock pot. I will cook a whole chicken in it then stem some veggies and put some of my mixed fridge biscuits in the oven and have an easy delicious meal. I then de-bone the cooled chicken and put it in freezer baggies for future meals. I also save the broth in the crock for recipes calling for chicken stock. Another thing I due is re-purpose left overs. My husband likes spaghetti, but (used to) hate(s) it left over. Well, I remedied that by using left overs to make spaghetti pie. (He loves it). I also add veggies to ground meats and sauces(carrots, mushrooms, onion, garlic, eggplant, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach, etc. Usually whatever sound good or I have) I use my food processor to make the pieces really fine. (I sometimes cook for teens and some of them hate veggies, but they don’t even know that they are in their taco meat, spaghetti sauce, etc. This can seem time consuming at first, but it is very healthy and that is what I want my family to be.
I love my crockpot! I’m also a weekly meal planner before I go to the grocery store. My favorite thing to do with the crockpot is a pork roast. Put cut up potatoes, carrots, and onions in the pot (after the liner bag….another huge time saver!), place the roast on top, pour a packet of onion soup mix over it, and pour in some water. Leave it on all day and then it’s done! We eat that the first night, then change the pork to BBQ for sandwiches the next, and then shred it for tacos on the last night. One day of cooking and three easy meals come from it( there’s usually leftovers too)!
I have 3 siblings and we try to get together once in awhile for dinner. One week we’ll eat with my younger sister and her hubby, and another week, they might come over to our place for dinner. It’s not too hard to cook a little more, if I know that next week, there’s a day I don’t have to cook. This could work if you can take turns eating at a friend’s house too. It’s a little tricky if there are picky kids (or adults) involved, so probably just close friends, or only if you know the family pretty much eats anything.
It helps me if I write down a basic menu list on grocery day. That way, I don’t have to wonder what’s for dinner or panic at 4:30. Even if I don’t make the dinners “in that order” or “on that day”, it takes less brainpower to pick a thing from the list than to work from memory. (Another perk of the menu list, is, if I assign each dinner to a specific day, my kids think it’s pretty cool to be able to “predict the future” by knowing what’s for dinner /days/ in advance!) Also, I find that if I do “one thing” toward supper ahead of time (like take a meat out of the freezer, or chop a vegetable, or, ideally, throw something in the crock pot!), it makes actual dinner-prep time sooo much easier. I’m not usually excited about dinner prep at breakfast time, but doing that one thing makes a huge difference.
My tried and true, sure fire way to have dinner on the table yummy and hot – My Husband 😉
By the time 5 comes around I am pooped. We homeschool and have one in school and my brian is fried about that time every night! Thankfully I have an amazing husband who gets that and Loves to help out!
One of my favorite crockpot sites is Crockin’ Girls.
http://crockingirls.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8f3769614e72e3221b9c388a9&id=6da2272e8c&e=3e347aa234
They have a new recipe every week. They’re all so easy and use regular ingredients I usually already have. My crockpot is my best friend!
I have to say that Costco’s $4.99 rotisserie chicken has been my savior many times. My favorte dinner trick is to make some sort of salsa. I like the fruity varieties with mangos or peaches. Topping fish, chicken or pork with it is a great smoke and mirrors trick for an otherwise boring meal.
I make spaghetti and meat balls as my go to recipe when I just didn’t plan anything or when the plan didn’t count in what i had to get done that day! And this is the only meal everyone likes lol
Stir fry baby!!! Bought a $5 wok at IKEA and we’ve all been in love ever since!!!
I use my crock pot allot lol I also always plan dinner the night before so I can lay out meat to defrost or soak beans or whatever it is that needs to be done ahead of time
We have a set time for dinner every night (5:30 pm)so everyone knows (including their friends) when to be home to help either set the table, put the water on serving utensils, etc. Having a set day for certain types of meals helps too. Such as Sundays are Roasting/Baking Day, Monday is Makeover Monday, Assorted Pasta Meal Tuesday, Survivor Wednesday (For us diehard Survivor Fans). Which is our Pizza, Wings, or Something Easy night, Leftover Thursay, Kids Favorite Friday Night, Soup/Stew Saturday. A list of our kids favorites helps also. So when I’m choosing foods to fix I try to fix something that most will like on any given night.
My most favorite is placing my chicken breasts (I usually buy them fresh then freeze them in smaller portions for an easy grab) … But I love the crockpot ideas with frozen breasts. My fave is 4-6 frozen breasts with 1 bottle of sweet BBQ sauce and 1 20oz can on pineapple chunks (drained liquid). Leave on high 4-6 HR or low 6-8 hrs. Spray inside pot for easy clean up. Then you can shred or use chicken whole; on a bun or without….add some sweet potato fries or broccoli and carrots and you are good to go. 🙂